Karen Blixen Museum – Nairobi: The Karen Blixen Museum is a colonial – era house where Baronese Karen Blixen lived with her husband, the famous – Oscar winning movie “Out of Africa” was based on the life of Karen Blixen in Kenya, based on her autobiographical book. The house was built in 1912 and bought by the couple in 1917 and it became the farm house for their 4500-acre farm, of which 600 acres was used for coffee farming.
Visiting the sophisticated museum provides an opportunity to step back in time and gain an insight into the life of this remarkable woman, views of the Ngong Hills can be admired from the beautifully landscaped gardens of the museum.
The Karen Blixen Museum was established in 1985 to commemorate the life of Baroness Karen Blixen – the talented Danish author, poet and farmer. Karen Blixen is the author of several books including the famous “Out of Africa” which was later documented into a movie with the same title.
Karen Blixen lived in the Museum house, Mbogani as it was then known from 1917 to 1931, she sold the house with the 6000 acres she owned to a land developer in 1931 when she left Kenya. The land developer then split the property into smaller acreage to create a housing estate which he named after its previous owner Karen.
Mbogani house also changed name at time to Karen house, the house was rented out and later sold a retired Colonel Lloyd who lived here until his death in 1954. His daughter occupied the house until 1959 when it was bought by the Danish Government to present it to Kenya Government as a gift to mark the occasion of its independence of 1963. The gift included a grant to build a center for young women, Karen house was then used by the new collage to accommodate the matron when it opened doors in 1966 until 1972.
About the same time, Karen’s works had captured the readers with a number of her admirers already visiting Karen house. From this the idea of converting the house into the museum had been born, however due to tasks involved this took several years. The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) had considered prospects of developing Karen House as a museum by 1970 but limited funds could not allow.
Main Attractions At Karen Blixen Museum
Karen Blixen Museum presents a glimpse of the life of the talented author and farmer through photographs, paintings and displays of furniture and a Library of books. There is a unique collection of agricultural tools, ploughs, wagons, coffee driers and first-generation tractors that provide an insight into early twentieth century, agriculture, technologies and transportation of goods. Three hundred bags of coffee were hauled by oxen from Karen Blixen’s farm to the Nairobi railway station from where they went to Mombasa for shipping.
Other attractions include
- The Museum house is one of Nairobi’s old houses built in 1912, set with a magnificent view of the Ngong Hills
- Nature trail into a relic religious forest found in the area
- Wonderful life forms such as 116 species of birds, butterflies, mammals like hyrax and bush squirrels and over 100 types of plants.
During the 25 years celebrations, the museum will be taking stock for its activities and looking into ways of KAREN BLIXEN MUSEUM expanding and bringing out more stories of Kenya’s early history.
About Karen Blixen
Karen Blixen was born in Denmark in 1885, she came to Kenya in 1914 to join her fiancé Baron Von Blixen and they got married here on the second day of her arrival. Baron Bror Von Blixen had preceded her to buy a farm to rear Diary cattle but this plan charged instead they engaged into coffee farming. However, the coffee farm did not do well due to unsuitable climatic conditions, acidic soils, insufficient rainfall, high altitude and other factors which included poor returns due to the world 1930 recession.
Karen Blixen faced many challenges in Africa but her spirit never died, she suffered poor health, a failed marriage which ended in divorce in 1925 and the collapse of the coffee farm which left her bankrupt. Karen had invested so much in farm, her heart was there. The welfare of her farm workers was in her, she kept on trying every year hoping that the returns would improve but this was never to be.
Looking back on her life in Africa, Karen Blixen felt “that it might altogether be described as the existence of a person who had come from a rushed and noisy world into a still country. Karen Blixen returned to live with her mother at the family home in Rungstedlund Denmark where she spent the rest of her days. It was at this stage in her life that she seriously started her literature career. Her first book “Seven Gothic Tales was published in America 1934, where it received the “Book of the month” award “Out of Africa” was published in 1937. Karen continued to write a number of successful books and articles right up to the time for her death in 1962.
The museum is most grateful to the Danish Government for the initial idea and donation of the property, NMK is also indebted to a number of Contributors over the years. Among them, the Rungstedlund Foundation for the photographs in the building, the Kenya Museum Society which has made significant contributions the Karen Blixen Museum over the years notably for – restoration of the furniture, construction of lavatories and gate. A number of Kenya Museum society members also donated a number of books and volunteered their time towards Museum activities. The first Museum guides were trained by KMS one of them is still with the Museum to date.
Location of Karen Blixen Museum
The Karen Blixen Museum is located 16 kilometers from Nairobi City Center, the Museum is accessible through both the Ngong and Langata roads. The Museum is at the end of Karen road.
